The Board of Directors authorized management to explore the sale of the private student loan portfolio and transfer servicing to a third-party servicer. The company stopped accepting new applications for these loans on February 1, 2024.

Discover and Capital One jointly announced a merger agreement where Discover shareholders will receive 1.0192 shares of Capital One stock for each share of Discover stock they own. This all-stock merger values Discover at $35.3 billion.

Direct-to-consumer deposits reached $84.0 billion as of December 31, 2023, up from $70.5 billion in the prior year. This growth reflects the company's ability to attract and retain deposits.

The company has made changes throughout 2023 to better ensure compliance with its risk management framework and supporting governance structure. These enhancements will continue throughout 2024.

The company agreed to a consent order with the FDIC to improve its consumer compliance management system and enhance related corporate governance and enterprise risk management practices.

The company is focused on maintaining a cost-effective, reliable and secure technology platform, and is using in-house resources to build, maintain and oversee some of its technology systems.

The merger is subject to a number of risks, including regulatory approvals, potential termination, and difficulties in achieving expected synergies.

Economic conditions can reduce credit card usage and average purchase amounts, which could reduce interest income and transaction fees. The company relies heavily on interest income from credit card loans to generate earnings.

Regulatory and supervisory developments, findings and ratings could negatively impact business strategies, limit product offerings, and increase compliance costs.

The credit card business is highly competitive, and some competitors offer a wider variety of financial products. Some competitors have greater financial resources, diversification and scale than Discover.

The payments industry faces increasing competition from traditional players and new, emerging alternative payment providers. Competitors may offer financial incentives to card issuers, and Visa and Mastercard have greater merchant acceptance and broader global brand recognition.

In the direct-to-consumer deposits business, the company competes with other large banks and credit unions that source deposits through branch locations and direct channels.

The company is focused on managing costs and has ongoing investments in infrastructure, including technology, which may increase costs. The company is also focused on managing outsourced services.

Compliance expectations and expenditures have steadily and significantly increased, and the company may have to invest further in risk management, compliance and other functions in response to possible regulatory feedback.

The company is working to improve operational efficiency by implementing innovative and efficient technology solutions and marketing initiatives while effectively managing legal, regulatory, compliance, security, operational and other risks.

The company is investing in technology such as generative AI to maintain a competitive business, integrate newly-acquired businesses and establish scalable operations.

The company uses third-party vendors for technology services and in-house resources to build, maintain and oversee some of its technology systems. This approach is believed to enhance operations and improve cost efficiencies.

The company is focused on data security and has an information security program that is designed to safeguard the confidentiality, integrity and availability of information assets.

The company has paused share repurchases while an internal review of compliance, risk management and corporate governance is ongoing.

The company is subject to regulatory requirements relative to capital distributions, including common stock dividends and repurchases, imposed by the Federal Reserve as part of its stress testing framework and CCAR program.

DFS and Discover Bank are subject to capital adequacy guidelines adopted by federal banking regulators, which include maintaining minimum capital and leverage ratios for capital adequacy and higher ratios to be deemed 'well-capitalized'.

The company's U.S.-based employee population is composed of 64% women and 46% people of color. The company's Executive Management Committee and Board of Directors regularly review their DE&I strategy and progress.

The company seeks to pay employees fairly for their work and regularly monitor their performance, addressing pay-equity discrepancies or issues as appropriate.

The company consistently leverages employee listening to drive continuous improvement throughout the company. In the most recent employee survey, 82% of employees recommended Discover as a great place to work.

The company is subject to U.S. and global economic environment. A customer's ability and willingness to repay can be impacted by not only economic conditions but also a customer's other payment obligations.

The company is subject to risks stemming from laws and regulations, compliance therewith and related litigation and an uncertain economic environment.

The company must successfully compete against firms that are larger and have more resources as well as firms that are smaller and potentially disruptive to the industry.